The significance of the relationship between Egyptian and Greek culture over the longue durée has long been a controversial, if largely understudied, topic across multiple disciplines and cultures. This talk will explore the fascinating history of interactions between Egypt and Greece, the ways in which scholars have approached this cross-cultural encounter in the past, why it matters, and why we should study it today. After surveying the current state of the field, the talk then discusses the long-term history of travel literature between Egypt and Greece, exploring some of the most important poems in question, and introducing an ongoing project, based at the University of St Andrews, on this topic.

Maxwell Stocker is a graduate student in the School of Classics at the University of St Andrews.